B-
Las Vegas Raiders
Mendoza is the Raiders' new face under center. Grade: B-.
by Grumzy ·
2026 NFL Draft
· 10 picks
· 2 steals
· 3 reaches
The war room fell hard for Riley Nowakowski, and it showed at slot 185: 84 picks ahead of a board that had other ideas.
Everything downstream of Fernando Mendoza depends on Fernando Mendoza, and the building knows it. If one pick saves this weekend, it is Ponds. They covered a lot of ground and still skipped edge rusher, which is a strange place to end up.
They left with cornerback solved and the rest of the wish list mostly ticked off.
In sum, a sensible class that nudges the roster the right way.
Pick-by-Pick
In slot 1 they get their quarterback of the future. A clean fit for the roster.
No drama and no debate, Dillon Thieneman went about where he belonged in the 36th pick. Not urgent, but hardly pointless.
Somehow D'Angelo Ponds was still sitting there in the Round 3 slot, and they pounced on premier cornerback value. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
Treydan Stukes at No. 102 nudges the ledger their way without any fuss. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
Jalon Kilgore slid further than he should have, and pick 117 is lovely value for the cornerback. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
Chris McClellan in Round 4, Pick 34 is fair value, right on his grade. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.
A reach for Taylen Green in the 175th overall pick; a little patience would have been rewarded. The roster fit checks out.
Riley Nowakowski at slot 185 is the kind of overdraft that needs everything to break right. It patches a soft spot without any drama.
Kaelon Black at No. 208 is neither steal nor reach, just the going rate. Another box on the needs board, quietly ticked.
They jumped the gun on Eli Heidenreich, taking him earlier than his grade liked. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.